


blood is pretty but it's metal on my tongue

by americananirvana



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Blood, Blood Kink, Dark, Happy Ending, M/M, Pet Names, Tysh, josh dun - Freeform, josh dun x tyler joseph, joshler - Freeform, kinda fluff but also too creepy to be fluff, mask kink, minor gore, twenty one pilots - Freeform, tyler joseph - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 06:07:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9870806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americananirvana/pseuds/americananirvana
Summary: tyler doesn't have any nerve endings and he can't feel pain. josh loves wearing masks and the sight of blood on skin.or:there's something intangible that josh feels at the sight of blood on tyler's tanned skin while a mask restricts his breath.||mentions of self harm and anxiety||





	

**Author's Note:**

> strange things, strange words.
> 
> inspired by the voices at 3 am, a masked set of photos my friend took of me(i had a knife) and the scrambled thoughts in my notes.

josh has always loved masks that cover his mouth and nose.

specifically, he's not quite sure why. but he adores them, and there's a corner of his closet devoted to the black and white and soft pink blue designs of the mouth masks.

his room is a private space to him. he can't understand the concept of someone casually bringing someone into their room; josh's bedroom is his private space and the stomach inside his brain has thrown up everywhere and left its marks in the form of dried flowers and monochromatic collages filled with bleeding hands and vague shadows of undecipherable photography.

it's a place he refuses to display to simply anyone out of a little bit of posessiveness and a great deal of uncomfort.

he finds solace in here and he has no interest in letting it be tainted by the questions and incredulous glances of someone who is unlike josh.

he lets tyler in his bedroom.

tyler, with his lips bitten raw and beanies pulled low over his head.

hands messed with paint and strange words(milk, cemetery, red) and scribbled images of anatomically correct female figures and bleeding eyes.

tyler, with his silver smooth tongue and his raspy songs that never fail to enchant josh further into his clutches.

tyler, who lets josh show him the long rows of pale scratches raising  crescents into his pale skin, who lifts up his own sleeves and show him the red marked scratches on his own arms.

tyler doesn't feel pain, he says.

there aren't any nerve endings in his body.

so sometimes, when he's in the right mood, tyler will put on matte lipstick and something floral soaked and let josh put on a mask and carve little designs into the soft flesh of his wrists with a pocket knife.

josh never paints portraits into the wonderland of tyler's body. the eyes will follow him, and he'll feel the breath catch into his chest as the cold creeps into his fingertips and his vision begins to blur.

josh likes to steal needles from the old cookie tin full of sewing supplies and poke the calloused skin on the tips of his fingertips again and again and watchs with almost a lewd fascination as the blood beads into perfect raindrops and stains josh's painted pink fingernails and roll down his white knuckles. the pain will prickle pleasantly, while the sound of soft 90s rock drags through his record player.

tyler worries about him, he knows. he'll bandage all his fingers and josh will giggle and wave his bandaid tipped fingers but tyler will sigh in relief because josh only likes to poke away at his fingertips and he never likes making the effort of taking the bandages off because that's tyler's job.

tyler adores josh's masks.

josh will lie down on the bed with a mask on, and his faded pink blue hair will cloud around his face softly and his eyes will close like window blinds to reveal the shiny purple of his eyelids, and sometimes shows the sharp eyeliner that josh will spend an hour on because he knows it makes tyler's heart speed up.

they're almost complete opposites, with josh's faded pastel hair and ripped skinny jeans and oversized sweaters paired with long eyelashes and mono color masks, and tyler with his pulled down red beanies and fluffy dark brown hair and unripped black jeans and vintage tshirts and matte liquid lipstick with little red designs cut into his skin.

it's a beautiful contrast.

josh is wearing a white mask he shyly asked for at the hospital and poking at the freshly healed skin on his fingers when his window is pushed open and rain blows through as tyler climbs in with beanie lopsided.

josh grins as tyler closes the window and sits cross legged on his bed to pull down his mask momentarily and kiss him with bitten, bloody lips.

josh drops the dirty needle into the halfway full jar on his night stand and moves forward to sit on tyler's lap and kiss softly up and down his neck while tyler combs his hands through josh's hair.

"i got you a present, sweetheart."

josh's face lights up, and he pulls back from where he was sucking hickies onto tyler's neck and looks at tyler with eager eyes.

"you did?"

tyler smiles gently and hands josh  a long, sharp kitchen knife wrapped up with a little red bow. 

"was thinking you could do my back or chest today."

josh takes the knife with eager admiration, his mask hanging from one ear and his fingers leaving little smears of blood all over the black handle of the knife.

"your chest?"

josh asks, eyes wide.

although he knew tyler didn't feel pain, they'd never gotten farther than the little patterns on tyler's wrists. 

there'd never been as much blood.

tyler nods encouragingly, and pulls his black sweatshirt over his head.

josh's mouth splits into a wide grin and he pulls the mask back over both ears, and runs to the bathroom to get towels, gauze, and a roll of paper towels.

josh lays the old stained towels down on the bed and asks tyler if he can do his ribcage.

tyler lies on his back and props his head up with a pillow while josh straddles him, eyes bright and white hospital mask clean and unstained.

he begins to dig little flowers into the gentle curves of tyler's ribcage, and gasps softly as blood pools to the surface and runs in little rivulets down his body, zig zagging as his ribcage rises with his breath.

tyler watchs as josh straddles his lap, cutting a bloody design with a brand new knife and a hospital mask with the rain pouring outside. 

josh finishes up and moves to put the knife to the side and grab the roll of paper towels, but tyler grabs his wrists to stop him.

he smears his hands in the puddle of blood on his ribs and grasps josh's face, leaving bright red hand prints all over his cheeks and mask, and kisses him hard through the mask.

josh sighs into the kiss, and lets tyler paint him pretty with his own blood, telling him to be careful not to mess up his eyeliner.

tyler coats his lips with blood, making sure not to get any on his tongue, and leaves kissmarks all down his neck.

tyler makes sure that no part of josh's mask is left pure clean white.

josh hangs the bloody mask up on his wall.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading.  
> stay alive.
> 
> tumblr: washedouteyes  
> instagram: dysautonomiaa


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